Bill Allows City To Pay For Stadium Upgrades, But Not With New Taxes

State lawmakers have introduced a bill that would allow the city of Charlotte to pay for renovations to Bank of America stadium, but not the way the city wants to. The bill sponsored by four Mecklenburg County lawmakers gives the city flexibility to redirect tax money earmarked for the convention center.

City officials want the state legislature to let council double the 1 percent prepared-food tax to raise the $143 million promised to the Panthers. Doing that would raise much more than what the Panthers are requesting. City officials want to use some of the additional money to turn Bojangles’ Coliseum into an amateur sports complex.

But Representative Ruth Samuelson says there’s no stomach for a tax increase.

“The bottom line is we want to help the Panthers. We want to help the city help the Panthers, but we’re not going to do it with a tax increase,” she says.

The bill would leave the city about $33 million short of its agreement with the Panthers. City councilman Michael Barnes says that would mean the council would have to go back to the drawing board with the team.

“If we only have the authority that they’re proposing in the bill, then we’ll have to trim something out of the package and we’ll also have to reassess how we do the amateur sports projects,” says Barnes.

The city’s plan also hinges on getting $62.5 million from the state. Representative Samuelson says Governor Pat McCrory could consider using state commerce department money for that.

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The Charlotte City Council met Monday night behind closed doors with Panthers president Danny Morrison and owner Jerry Richardson. The team is seeking public support for renovation of their 16-year-old stadium. But, Panthers officials won’t talk about it, the mayor won’t talk about it, and (only) a limited number of staff have been let in on it.

The Charlotte City Council this afternoon reached a tentative deal with the Carolina Panthers to spend $143 million on improvements at Bank of America Stadium. In exchange, the Panthers agree to stay in Charlotte for at least 15 years. Without this deal, City Attorney Bob Hagemann says the city could lose the team at any time.

"It's a lot of money, but if the public would look at other NFL stadium deals in recent years, this is relatively modest and we think this is a very good deal to keep such an important asset – one of 32 NFL franchises – here in North Carolina," he said.

The Carolina Panthers say their 17- year old stadium needs an upgrade and they want taxpayers to pitch in. City of Charlotte officials are busy negotiating behind closed doors to come up with as much as half of the $250 million renovation. They're reportedly looking at doubling the city's tax on prepared foods, such as meals in restaurants. That's not the only local tax Charlotte has used to fund big projects in the past. We asked WFAE's Julie Rose to sort out the sales taxes Charlotte has access to, as this debate over upgrading Bank of America stadium unfolds.